Plasma treatment processes, such as plasma etching or deposition processes, are frequently used during the fabrication of semiconductor devices for integrated circuits. For example, during the fabrication of complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) devices, plasma etching processes can be used after CMOS transistor formation to produce one or more structures (e.g., contacts, bond pads, trenches, etc.). However, plasma treatment processes produce wavelengths of radiation that can negatively affect CMOS device performance, reliability, and durability. For instance, exposure to certain wavelengths of produced ultraviolet radiation may result in one or more of defects, impurities, and broken chemical bonds in CMOS transistors.
Conventional methods of reducing defects, impurities, and broken chemical bonds resulting from exposing radiation-sensitive structures (e.g., CMOS transistors) to ultraviolet radiation include forming at least one radiation-absorbing material (e.g., an anti-reflective coating) over the radiation-sensitive structures. Unfortunately, the efficacy of the radiation-absorbing material is largely dependent on the thickness of the radiation-absorbing material. For example, thicker radiation-absorbing materials are typically required to impede radiation transmittance at higher radiation intensities, resulting in increased material expense and the formation of larger semiconductor device structures. In addition, the radiation-absorbing material can disadvantageously limit or prevent the use of various photolithographic processes (e.g., those utilizing lower wavelengths of radiation, such as wavelengths less than or equal to about 193 nanometers) in the formation of semiconductor device structures.
A need, therefore, exists for simple and cost-efficient methods to at least reduce, if not eliminate, at least the aforementioned problems.